Love, Lust, and Lucy
by korenara
Summary: /NaLu/ And so maybe it was time Natsu made a move on Lucy already.


**Natsu**

* * *

><p>Rough, calloused palms pushed forwards, opening the large and firm double-doors of Fairy Tail.<p>

As soon as he stepped in, the familiar smells of beer, sweat, and a tinge of musk bombarded his nose all at once, sending a tingling sensation throughout his body. He loved the distinctive smell of this place, the smell that seemed to only belong here—the smell of _home_. He mused. Looking up at his fluffy blue Exceed who was hovering in midair, he smiled, "It's good to be back, right Happy?"

"Aye!" Happy saluted, "two weeks of being away felt like a whole year Natsu, I hope Charles missed me as much as I missed her."

"Yeah," he breathed out, "I'm sure she misses you too, Happy," his eyes immediately searched the vicinity for a certain blond-haired celestial mage that, he too, missed oh so deeply, "I wonder where Lucy is."

The guild hall wasn't as jam-packed and rowdy today, he noted. Saturday mornings are a lot more quiet and peaceful, most people don't come until later in the afternoon—either because they're still tired from last Friday night's usual merriment, or purely due to the fact that Saturdays are a perfect excuse to get lazy.

"Hey, Natsu!" Cana Alberona waved furiously from atop of a table, sitting, legs crossed as one hand was clutching a barrel of beer—_as usual_, "Haven't seen you in quite a while," she slurred, cheeks red, "come be a sweetheart and have a drinking contest with me!"

Knowing Cana, Natsu assumed that she had never even gone home last night, which was pretty much obvious, seeing as how several dozens of empty barrels was surrounding her. Surpassing the capacity of a normal human's intake on alcohol; it's amazing how she doesn't even have any complications on her health whatsoever. Not that Natsu _wants_ her to have some sort of liver problem or anything. He exasperatedly smiled, "I'll have to pass on that, thanks!"

She slammed a fist onto the wooden table, "You _always_ say that," she whined, "How 'bout you, Happy, you up for a drinking contest?"

The little Exceed pulled a scrunched expression, "Sorry but cat's tummies have extremely low tolerance for those kinds of drinks." He shook his head, "but if you offer on a fish eating contest instead," his eyes sparkled as he started salivating, "I'll be more than happy to compete!"

Natsu only laughed and proceeded to the bar, giving a casual 'good morning' to a smiling Mirajane Strauss.

"You're finally back," the white-haired beauty acknowledged, "We were all starting to get worried. That solo mission you took must have been harder than expected."

"Nah, it wasn't like that," He propped himself on the stool and leaned his taut arms on the counter, "me and Happy got sidetracked when we were passing through a small village on our way home," he explained, replaying what had transpired just a few days ago, "turns out that the people there were held as slaves by a gang of bandits." His jaw reflexively locked, the mere thought of those poor villagers and the way they were abused and pushed around was more than enough to make his already warm blood boil. His palms inched into fists. Immediately, he reminded himself that they're okay now. He and Happy had helped them. And they shouldn't be in any kind of trouble for a long, _long_ time, "Those stinking bandits were really sneaky, so it took us another week to find and catch them all."

"Hm, I see," Mirajane nodded, "it's very fortunate that you had managed to stumble upon that village, now the residents can rest easy," she smiled proudly, like a mother would to her child who had just done an extremely good deed, "thanks to you, and of course, Happy too."

"Yeah." Her humble praise instantly sent blood to rush in Natsu's cheeks. Scratching the back of his neck, he said, "They offered all their money as thanks. Four million jewels."

She tilted her head to the side, pursing her pink lips, she asked him slowly, "Did… you take it?"

"_No_," he grumbled, his brows creased, a little upset that Mira would think that he'd actually accept all of their money, _really_ now, "beating up and seeing those lowlife bandits getting burnt to a crisp was reward enough."

"Well that's good," her shoulders slunk downwards in relief, "I hope you didn't overdo it on the beating, though."

He shrugged, "They deserved it,"

"I'm sure they did." She chuckled.

Setting his chin to his palm, he casually asked, "So Mira, anything interesting happened while I was away? What have you guys been up to?"

"Oh no, not much. Just regular, run of the mill stuff." Mirajane smirked as she grabbed a clean cloth from underneath the counter and began wiping, "Well, if you count Gray and Lucy dating as _interesting_, then that's about it."

He blinked. Once. Twice. And then a third time. _Sweet Mavis_, _when was the last time I cleaned out my ears_, Natsu thought. He must've heard her wrong, surely. "Excuse me? Who's dating who?"

Continuing on to clean the glassware, she repeated, "Gray and Lucy."

It only took a second for Natsu to process this, and when he did, he shot straight up from the stool, wide-eyed, "_Gray and Lucy_?!"

"Yep." she calmly confirmed, "it was a long time coming, if you ask me."

A strong sense of vertigo clouded his head. He was completely and utterly stumped. "…No." he whispered, almost inaudibly, "No way." It felt like a strong blow to the gut, what he was feeling right now. He's never even heard of Gray being interested in Lucy before. He's _certainly_ never even heard of Lucy being interested in Gray before. And now they're dating. What the damn hell. "I was gone for _two weeks_…"

The grit in his teeth did not go unnoticed by Mirajane; she had to hold in a violent laugh before placing a hand on Natsu's shoulder. "Natsu, relax," she patted, "I was just pulling your leg."

The young Salamander tensed, "Huh?"

"I was joking, Natsu."

"_Joking_?" He quirked a brow as he sat back down with a heavy, relieved sigh, "Why would you _joke_ about something like that, Mira?"

She shrugged, "I wanted to confirm my suspicion, you see."

"Suspicion?"

"On whether you like Lucy or not." Crossing her arms, she smirked again with a sly expression. "The way you reacted just now confirms that: _yes_, you _do_ like her, oh dear Mavis, why haven't you made a move yet?"

His jaw dropped harshly. For months now, Mirajane has been incessantly nagging him about how he's in love with Lucy. He's never admitted it of course, he'd always been secretive, but now, he had carelessly slipped. _Stupid moron_. "Mira," he began, "I've told you a thousand times, I don't like Lucy in that way. She's my best friend, my _nakama_—"

"Oh yeah?" She questioned, throwing her hands in the air as she exaggeratedly mimicked him, "_No_! _No way_! I was gone for _two weeks_! Oh God, why oh, _why_?!"

"Stop it. You're exaggerating." He huffed. "Fine, fine you got me."

The barmaid clapped her hands with joy, "Natsu Dragneel finally caved!"

Of all the people that could have known his little secret, why did it have to be Mirajane, the nosiest woman in all of Fairy Tail—in his opinion. Heck, before noon everybody and their mothers would know he likes Lucy.

"Yeah, Mira, can you promise to keep this a secret? I mean, you know…"

She waved dismissively, "Sure, sure."

"Mirajane, I'm _serious_."

"Yep, me too." She smiled. "Don't worry. Natsu, your secret is safe with me."

The pink-haired youth looked skeptical, "I hope so."

"So, what are we talking about here?"

Whipping his head to the direction of an all too familiar voice, his heart began beating at a lightning fast pace. _Shit_.

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><p><em>Well that was... idk what that was. Was it crap? Bc I think it's crap. IDK.<em>

_If anyone wants me to continue then you know what to do! And well if you find any typos then please let me know ASAP! Thankies c:_

_PS_

_I was once **korenmae**, now it's **korenara** btw xoxo_


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